January 31, 2015

Nicholas C. Burbules made that statement in a scholarly paper he wrote on the occupation of editing in a culturally diverse world.

Said another way: when I send in a piece of fiction for publication in a magazine, book, or for that matter … a professor to grade: if said piece of prose is not up to a particular editor’s level, or a particular instructor’s literary range of writing (off setting problems with grammar, punctuation, and correct word usage of course), then isn’t that indeed a form of cultural imperialism?

Who is really to say what good writing is? Has it to do with the rhetorical subscript set by some unseen source as to what is acceptable. Is it the readership of said piece that accounts for what is quality?

I dare say: “He who rules the present – rules the past; and in turn, rules the standards set to rule the present.” Is an oxymoron at work here?

I suppose there must be some standards by which we live our lives. Ahh … the irony of it all.

December 26, 2013

… I managed to get published. I won’t bore you with the details; it’s just something that happened with me. It makes me feel like “Alice through the looking-glass.”

A serendipityif you will. I, the most unlikely in the genre – poetry – that is, have actually put together a collection of words that someone found worth with. Life just keeps gettn’ better!

That brings me to my main argument: Does one make one’s reality … or is it mere chance one ends up at a certain point that has been predestined,if you will? Is it luck or fate? What an endless argument that can be. I’ve been doing a bit-o-reading during the holiday break from university. In effect: The Bhagavad Gita, the Christian Bible, and a few other philosophies of the Chinese persuasion; all have interesting points of view; all hold my interest with the up most sincerity; and all, correlate with each other closer than I had earlier perceived.

The “ages of time” involved here are immense; yet the age of man is only a “sprinkling in the sand” of the hour-glass compared to this planet we inhabit. What an astounding fact that is!

September 16, 2013

What a great semesterr it’s turning out to be. I’m taking two English literature classes that are just amazing. My poetry class is wonderment, and, as usual, LATIN is kick’n my butt. As I say; at 66 I’m gett’n smarter by the minute.

What a great “side-passion” continuing education is. And, it doesn’t have to be structured “academia.” Join a reading group, quilting, fishing, river conservation, stamp collecting, etc., anything that will get your mind in motion and off the mundane of everyday.

Go out and see things, talk with people you don’t know about interests; leave the “telly” off for the weekend and rent a canue, go to the beach fish’n pier and see what fish’n folks are fish’n for. Take in a rodeo, or a bike race or even better take a “short” road trip.

Go down to the local museum, or gallery. As Froto said, you never know where your feet will lead once you step out the door.

July 6, 2013

My dog and I went to our local farmer’s market today. There was lots of local produce, some other vendors of odds and ends, my local university had a booth along with a few local religious organizations. I’m starting to see more people of varied faiths offering native foods and ideals to this somewhat small south Georgia, U.S. community.

I remember back fifty years or so past when the farmers market here would have looked nothing as it is today. How we as a community have grown, and for the better I would like to think.

“The friends of the Library,” an organization of which I’m a member, were giving away free new children’s books – subjects and story content – varied to all ages and ethinic groups. That would never had happened way back when I was a child. HOW FAR WE HAVE COME! And we still, as a community and nation, have such a long way too go; but, not as far as it was!!

July 5, 2013

I’ve decided on this subject, the day after the Fourth of July – our Independence Day, in my home country of the United States of America where we CAN go to school: at any age, being of any race, and any gender or religion – to say – Jezzzzz: “HOW FORTUNATE WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

This is probably “ol’ hat” to some folks and I’m sure at lot of the people who live in this land take this simple act of becoming educated as a given right, but we should all remember – it hasn’t always been this way. The lives that have been given in battle both on foreign soil and here at home to allow us this “gift.” During the decades of racial inequality of all colors not only black; this dicriminatory issue of our ongoing quest of who as a nation we are. Look back on the days of women’s suffrage (I can’t imagine my mother not being able to read or write – her cursive penmanship: an art she was so proud of), child labor, and other things that should have never been in our history. How far we’ve come and how far we have to go!!

If you want an experience in moving forward, the reality is only a “click” away. Sense the people all over the world through the simple act of “blogging” being able to tell of their hopes , dreams, and imaginations to anyone who cares to look. Jezzzzzzzzzzz “HOW FORTUNATE WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Everyone should celebrate their good fortune of being literate at any level. Dream to learn more, imagine more, and share more! I’ve the good fortune of being a student at university and taking my own small opportunity to endow scholarships for my peers I attend class with. But, one of my biggest quests is being involved with my local city library where the people there provide such great services to my surrounding community with: reading programs, visiting authors, teaching programs for the illiterate in english (U. S. citizens and non-citizens alike), book giveaways, and so much more. YES, HOW FORTUNATE WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!